Chargers defense, special teams must not betray Justin Herbert

In his NFL QB Betrayal Index, The Athletic’s Mike Sando recently quantified how the Chargers' defense and special teams have let down star quarterback Justin Herbert over his first two seasons.

Sando took the offense and defense/special teams rankings, as laid out by TruMedia’s EPA model, for each NFL quarterback’s team over the last decade, beginning in 2012 and ending last year. For you non-football analytics nerds, EPA stands for expected points added, the difference between a team’s expected points at the beginning of a play and the end. 

Sando found Herbert was the second-most betrayed quarterback in this stretch, with his offense ranked ninth and the Chargers' defense and special teams ranking 53rd of 54 teams. His betrayal index, found by subtracting 53 from nine, came out to -44. 

Only the New Orleans Saints with future Hall of Famer Drew Brees had a worse betrayal index number, ranking second in offense and 51st in defense/special teams rankings for a -49. 

“The Chargers struggled on defense and/or special teams long before Herbert’s arrival,” Sando wrote. “With a defensive-minded head coach and an offseason spending spree on defensive pieces, the 2022 outlook should be positive. A tough schedule of opposing quarterbacks will be challenging, however.”

The Bolts ranked in the bottom 10 in defense last season, according to ESPN, mainly because their rush defense allowed the third-most yards in the NFL (2,361). The team added edge-rusher Khalil Mack and defensive tackles Sebastian Joseph-Day and Austin Johnson in the offseason to help address the issue.  

In their preseason game against the Cowboys, Los Angeles’ special teams appeared out of sync. The Chargers allowed a kickoff and a punt return touchdown to the Cowboys, who won 32-18. Head coach Brandon Staley was not pleased.